


Now The Weight Has Lifted (Love Has Surely Shifted My Way)

by RecklessSerenade67



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F, Family, Fluff, Vanity, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-27 04:11:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16211129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RecklessSerenade67/pseuds/RecklessSerenade67
Summary: It's Chas and Paddy's wedding day, cue a Vanity slow dance.





	Now The Weight Has Lifted (Love Has Surely Shifted My Way)

**Author's Note:**

> I was a tiny little bit disappointed we didn't get a brief glimpse of a Vanity slow dance at the Robron wedding yesterday, so I rustled this up to hopefully make up for it.

Helping herself to another glass of complimentary champagne, Charity took a mouthful, allowing the bubbles to work their way down her throat before she walked back through into the busy, ongoing wedding reception. With the music surrounding her ears loudly again, she took a second or two to gaze around the whole room, smiling back at the familiar faces that aimed their own genuine smiles at her. 

 

Noah and Sarah had their heads buried deep in their phones, barely chatting to one another as their thumbs tapped away furiously. Marlon grinned as he snuck past carrying a tray of newly purchased drinks from the bar, heading back to the table he had vacated previously and Debbie was locked in conversation with Faith, the pair of them turning their heads in unison to watch the happy newly married couple take to the dance floor for the first time of the evening. 

 

Charity couldn't stop the corners of her mouth twitching upwards into the biggest smile as she looked on. Chas was so ridiculously happy, happier than the barmaid had ever seen her really. Paddy was an idiot at times, a lot of times actually but it was completely obvious he adored Chas and it was equally obvious he had totally outdone himself today. Everything, right down to the very last detail was absolutely perfect and he had ran himself into the ground all week ensuring it would be. He hadn't found the time to rest until he was certain everything was in place for today to go as smoothly as possible. Charity was quite impressed, all the family were in truth. Paddy was one of life's good guys.

 

With the traditional first dance of the newlyweds coming to an end, the DJ took to the mic to try and encourage some other couples up onto the dance floor as the next song started to play out. Normally, that would have had Charity running for the hills, sloping off somewhere quieter until all that sort of lovey dovey stuff was over but things were different these days and instead of disappearing, she rapidly knocked back the last of the alcohol that sat in the bottom of her glass and began weaving through a series of dancing bodies. Within seconds, she came to a halt by one of the tables.

 

"There you are," grinning, Charity ran her index finger slowly along her girlfriend's bare shoulder. The simple skin on skin contact sending a shiver straight down the centre of her spine like a jolt of electricity, something she was certain she was never ever going to tire of. "Fancy a dance?"

 

"You're asking me to dance with you?" Vanessa repeated, thrown off by her girlfriend's sudden request. Charity had always made a point about public displays of affection, insisting they simply weren't her thing but here she was, requesting a slow dance at a wedding with her other half and in front of a heck of a lot of people too. The blue eyed blonde could feel the customary flutter deep in her stomach, one she experienced almost every single time she was within five metres of Charity.

 

"Well, I'm hardly coming all the way over here to ask Rhona, am I?" She scoffed, darting her eyes across the table towards the brunette. "No offence by the way,"

 

"None taken," 

 

"We were sort of in the middle of a conversation actually, it's important,"

 

"No, it's fine. Go on Ness," Rhona interrupted, waving her hand whilst giving her very best friend a little nod in the process. She noticed the way Vanessa's eyes practically lit up the mere second Charity approached the table. She'd noticed it before too, many many times in fact.

 

"Are you sure?"

 

"Of course I'm sure. So get going, it's rather rude to leave a lady waiting,"

 

Smiling a thanks towards her friend, Vanessa stretched her hand outward, comfortably slipping her fingers between those that awaited her. Charity led the way towards the dance floor, eventually coming to a halt when she was happy at where they stood. Gently tugging Vanessa into her body closer, she slipped her arm tight around the smaller woman's waist, her fingers brushing over the material of the dress that complimented the local vet in all the right places.

 

It went without saying that Charity had never done all this before, the affectionate loving side of a relationship was something she wasn't able to ever enjoy until now. Everything before was all game playing, fighting for the upper hand at whatever cost but with Vanessa there was none of that. Things were simple, uncomplicated, honest and she hadn't realised how much she had been craving all of that.

 

The latest song came to an end, the next one played out almost instantly and Vanessa had half expected that to be that, she half expected to be sitting back with Rhona but to her surprise, Charity seemed to hold on even closer, silently urging her to stay put. Mostly everyone else was making their way back to their seats and drinks and Vanessa was aware that meant they stood out even more than before but Charity didn't seem phased by that in the slightest.

 

"How drunk are you right now?" Drawing herself back, Vanessa eyed her girlfriend suspiciously, her eyes narrowing slightly.

 

"Necked about four of them free glasses of fancy champagne," she answered with a little shrug of her shoulders. "As well as the wine at dinner earlier,"

 

"Ah, that explains it,"

 

"Explains it?"

 

"Yeah. You would never dream of asking me to dance if you were sober,"

 

"Excuse me, I would," she argued, smiling at Vanessa's blatant knowing smirk. "Is Rhona alright?"

 

"She'll be fine I'm sure,"

 

"And did the boys go down ok?"

 

"Uh huh. Dad messaged me a half hour ago, both of them are out like lights. All that running around earlier at the wedding clearly tired them out. How adorable did they look in their little suits though? Johnny was made up he was just like Moses,"

 

"They are pretty inseparable. I will need to say thank you to your Dad for taking Moz too,"

 

"It's totally fine, he loves having the boys and as you already said, they are pretty inseparable at the moment," Vanessa explained, quickly filling Charity in on what the boys had been up to since Frank had picked them up earlier in the evening. "Today has been lovely, hasn't it?"

 

"Hmm. I know it may come as a bit of a shock to you babe, given how many times I've done all this but I'm not really massive on weddings,"

 

"It's all that declaration of love and public displays of affection stuff, isn't it?"

 

"It's never really been my thing," pulling a face, Vanessa laughed afterwards. "What?"

 

"Well you say it's not your thing but you're dancing with me now and I'm pretty sure a lot of people can see us,"

 

"It's different with you," she countered, her thumbs running across her girlfriend's waist before she lowered herself to meet Vanessa's eye. "Much different,"

 

"So you keep telling me,"

 

"You know it is," closing the gap between them both, Charity leant in bumping their noses together, unable to resist the massive urge to steal a slow kiss. "You look beautiful tonight by the way,"

 

"Thank you," Vanessa felt her cheeks blush, the flutter in her belly making itself known again as she shamelessly eyed the barmaid's body. "You scrub up well yourself, I've barely been able to keep my eyes off you,"

 

"Is that right?"

 

"Like you hadn't noticed,"

 

"I might have done," the smirk on her lips was obvious as she drew lazy patterns on the base of Vanessa's back. Closing her eyes briefly, Charity was more than happy to lose herself for a couple of minutes, simply taking the time to enjoy every precious second of dancing with her other half. When she opened her eyes again, her gaze fell on Tracy who was watching them from the other end of the room, a wide obvious grin on her lips. "You know what babe, your Sister really freaks me out when she stares at us like that, all smiley and weird,"

 

"She's just happy for us," Vanessa chuckled, her own eyes drifting around the room before she jerked her head towards Debbie who had also focused her gaze onto the dancing couple. "And she's not the only one,"

 

"It's like they've never seen a dancing couple before,"

 

"You know it's not that. I don't think they've seen us this happy and content before," she suggested, stretching upwards to leave a loving lingering kiss on the barmaid's mouth. "This is the first time in months that there's been no stress, nothing hanging over us. Maybe it shows more than we realise,"

 

"Content? There's a word I never thought I'd use to describe me,"

 

"And happy, are you?"

 

"I think this is the happiest I've been for such a long time," she confessed, no hint of any hesitation in her voices she spoke. Slipping her fingers through Vanessa's, she raises their entwined hands to her mouth, pressing her lips lightly against her girlfriend's knuckles. "I know it's the happiest I've ever been,"

 

"Careful. You just told me all this wasn't really your thing. You are sailing dangerously close to letting everyone know you're a big softy underneath all the bravado,"

 

"Only with you babe, only ever with you," raising her free hand, Charity happily loses her fingers in the vet's perfectly curled blonde locks, her eyes never once breaking the hold they had with the ocean blue ones staring back at her. Vanessa really did look mesmerising today, even more so than usual. "Earlier, during the vows and everything, it really made me think about how lucky I am to have you, you and the boys,"

 

"We're lucky to have you too,"

 

"That's drivel,"

 

"Please don't do that," Vanessa demanded, the sweet soft tone Charity loved so much still lingering in her voice as she spoke. She really did hate when Charity did that. She couldn't stand it when her girlfriend couldn't give herself credit for anything. She was so much more than she ever allowed herself to believe. "The boys adore you every minute of every single day and then there's me,"

 

"Then there's you," she smiled softly, pressing her body tight against Vanessa's as they continued to sway to the music, almost completely oblivious to everyone else in the room.

 

"I love you. I sometimes wish you would see just how much,"

 

"I do see. I just don't know what I've done to deserve all this,"

 

"You didn't have to do anything. Everyone deserves happiness," ghosting a kiss on Charity's mouth, she ran her thumb across the taller blondes bottom lip. "You deserve happiness,"

 

"Thank you,"

 

"You don't have to sa,"

 

"I do and I mean it too. You've stood by my side right from the beginning and when most people would have ran a mile in the opposite direction, you stayed. Even when I gave you the opportunity to swerve all this,"

 

"I'm not most people, am I?"

 

"No, you're not. You're special,"

 

"Truly special?" She teased, her tongue firmly tucked into her cheek.

 

"Yes, truly special," Charity laughed. "I love you so much and it all still scares me a bit,"

 

"I didn't know I was so terrifying,"

 

"You can be when you get going. But seriously, it's scary because everything good I end up making a mess of somehow, everyone good always leaves in the end,"

 

"Hey," Vanessa hushed, making sure their eyes remained locked despite Charity's persistence to break contact. "I've told you before, I'm in this for the duration and I am not going anywhere. I've been scared too you know?"

 

"What? Why?"

 

"That I wasn't good enough for you, that you'd get bored. I mean, I'm just a vet with a young kid that likes a quiet pint from time to time,"

 

"Just a vet?" Charity scoffed loudly. "You're really amazing at what you do. You're beautiful, you're smart, funny and you blow everyone else around here out of the flipping water. Then there's all that other stuff. No one has ever made me feel the way you make me feel. I mean, was it three or four times last night?" 

 

"Charity," she hissed, her stomach doing a somersault, nodding her head across the dance floor. "Chas and Paddy are right there,"

 

"Oh come on babe, they know. We've lived under the same roof countless times and neither of us are exactly discreet, you in particular,"

 

"Please stop talking," groaning, Vanessa buried her face into Charity's shoulder, attempting desperately to hide her blushing cheeks and shy smile.

 

"Ness?"

 

"Hmm?"

 

"You're more than enough for me, I hope you know that,"

 

"I do," she replied, drawing back, her fingers continuing to trace patterns on Charity's lower back.

 

"And when I said no one has ever made me feel like you do, I meant that too. I don't just mean like that. I mean, I feel happy, I feel safe with you and I feel like everything is finally how it should be,"

 

"This is how it should be,"

 

"Hey lovebirds," Faith bounded over, a huge beaming grin on her face that she'd held since early this morning. "The way you two are hogging this floor, you'd think it was you two who got wed today,"

 

"Haa," Vanessa squeaked out an awkward giggle, it almost catching in her throat as she consciously held Charity a little bit tighter. Serious commitment and Charity Dingle didn't exactly go hand in hand and the last thing she wanted right now was to spook her or, more to the point, for anyone else's comments to spook her.

 

"Well, never say never eh?" Charity batted back as Faith continued on across the dance floor, heading towards the couple that did tie the knot today. The taller woman could feel her girlfriend's eyes on her, her glare refusing to budge until she had the courage to meet it. "Go on then babe, spit it out,"

 

"Never say never?"

 

"I'm not going anywhere, you're not going anywhere," she shrugged nonchalantly, making it seem like the sudden topic of conversation wasn't such a big deal even if it really was. "That's the next logical step I guess,"

 

"I guess it is,"

 

"So, what would you say?"

 

"I'd say, it's Chas and Paddy's day and we best not overshadow it," Vanessa replied, hoping the fact her heart was basically bursting from her chest wasn't completely obvious.

 

"No, of course and I'm not asking the question, don't worry. I'm nowhere near prepared and there's far too much of an audience for my liking. I'm just curious,"

 

"You may still have to be curious for a while longer. Anyway, I'm pretty sure just ten minutes ago you told me you weren't a big fan of weddings,"

 

"Maybe I fancy having a Wife one day instead of a girlfriend,"

 

"You do?"

 

"I do," she nodded, swiping her thumb across Vanessa's cheek. "Especially one that's insanely gorgeous, a bit of a hot head, a little bit bossy,"

 

"Hey lover girls," Faith's voice boomed over towards them again, catching their attention. "If you can prize yourselves apart for two minutes, it's family photo time,"

 

"I best let you go," Vanessa spoke, stepping back from her girlfriend's embrace with full intent on finally returning to the table where her best friend was still sat.

 

"You're joking, right?" Charity replied, refusing to let her girlfriend's hand go free. "She said family and that means you too, so come on,"


End file.
